In a typical office environment, commercial building, and many residential environments, heating and air conditioning is provided through a plurality of air flow ducts which terminate in air discharge vents within the room interiors. In many such facilities and structures, the room ceilings are fabricated using the well known suspended ceiling apparatus. Such suspended ceilings are so named due to their use of a plurality of criss-crossing rails usually suspended from the upper ceiling supports of the room. In most installations, the suspended rails form a grid having equal sized spaces therein such as two foot squares within which correspondingly sized ceiling tiles formed of lightweight acoustic material are supported. In most facilities using suspended ceilings, the ceiling rail grid is further utilized to support both lighting fixtures and heating and air conditioning vents. Most commonly, such lighting fixtures and vents are sized to fit in place of one or more of the ceiling tiles. The resulting ceiling is cost effective to fabricate and is generally pleasing to the eye due to the flush mounting of the light fixtures and heating and air conditioning vents within the suspended rail grid.
Unfortunately, however, despite the aesthetic appeal and the cost effectiveness of such suspended ceilings, the placement of heating and air conditioning vents is often selected in accordance with the needs of light fixture placement as well as the efficiency of air circulation and flow rather than the likely seating locations of the inhabitants of the room. As a result, people within such environments must often tolerate undesired air flow patterns which can include drafts and annoying wind as the heating and air conditioning system cycles through its environmental control. To further exacerbate the problem, most environmental control systems within human environments utilize air circulation systems which operate in both heating and air conditioning modes. While draft and wind problems can be a source of annoyance in the operation of the heating system, they are of much greater annoyance in operation of the air conditioning system. Undesired drafts of cold air over long period times of time can cause inhabitants of the structure substantial discomfort and even illness.
Practitioners in the heating and air conditioning arts have for many years been aware of such problems and, in response thereto, have endeavored to provide various diffusers, grilles and other air flow control devices all directed toward avoiding draft and air flow problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,243 issued to Lambert sets forth a SUSPENDED CEILING FRAMEWORK SUPPORT TROFFER AIR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM having continuous arrays or rows of resilient inverted channel members each having the lower feet thereof separated in a natural state and contracted for insertion on and between the runners of a suspended ceiling framework. Air control means extend between the runners and ceiling tile are inserted between the runners and the air control means to close the channel members for conducting air there along.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,667 issued to Lambert sets forth a PLUG-IN AIR DIFFUSER SUBASSEMBLY FOR A VARIETY OF SUSPENDED CEILING FRAMEWORK having a pair of opposed and spaced end walls to which side walls are riveted to form an air distribution passage therethrough. A pair of spaced protrusions extend laterally from the end walls and inwardly to the subassembly to frictionally mount a pair of cambered nested weirs in the air distribution passage. The subassembly plugs into a space formed between a pair of parallel inverted T-bar cross runners.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,828 issued to Grant sets forth REVERSIBLE DAMPER MEANS having a multiplicity of damper blades rotatably mounted in housing means to control and regulate the flow of a heating/cooling medium into individual rooms or zones served by a central appliance. The damper blades are opened and closed by a reversible motor connected to a driver blade and all other blades are interconnected by linkage means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,687 issued to Grant sets forth a MULTI-BLADE AUTOMATIC AIR REGISTER DAMPER for use in air registers installed over furnace duct boots terminating in recesses of floors, ceilings or walls of dwellings. The damper blades are attached to a gear train and are pivotally mounted in a damper housing assembly. The blades are rotatable between open and closed positions by a motor driven damper blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,183 issued to Lynch sets forth an INSULATED SHUTTER ASSEMBLY for installation in a ceiling or other wall of a building for use in combination with a ventilating fan. The shutter assembly is insulated to substantially prevent heat transfer by conduction and convection through the shutter assembly when it is closed. An integrated mechanical lock system is used with the shutter assembly to provide a positive force against elastic seals when the shutters are closed.
U.S. Pat. Re.30953, a reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,513 issued to Noll, et al. sets forth a THERMALLY ACTUATED DIFFUSER for an air conditioning system which incorporates a self contained and integrated sensor actuator for varying the volume of conditioned air passing through the diffuser in response to room temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,253 issued to Faith, et al. sets forth an AIR-FLOW CAPTURE AND CONTROL DEVICE FOR FLOW MEASUREMENT having an air flow measuring box supporting four curtains which are drawn or released together to set the measuring aperture of the measuring box at a desired area and linear velocity flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,871 issued to Larkfeldt sets forth a SUPPLY AIR DEVICE FOR INJECTION OF PREFERABLY COLD VENTILATION AIR adapted to be mounted adjacent one edge of a hung ceiling. The device includes a pressure box having an air distribution chamber in its bottom formed between a pair of perforated plates which operate to distribute the air vertically downward and eliminate any horizontal component of air flow in the duct.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have in some instances improved the related arts, they have thus far failed to solve the basic problems described above and meet the as yet unsatisfied need for a simple, low cost, and easily installed and operated apparatus for adjusting and controlling heat and air conditioning air flow within a room environment. There remains therefore a need in the art for evermore improved, easy to use, low in cost and simple to install air flow controllers for heating and air conditioning vents.